TEXT-S&P rates Antero Resources Finance's notes 'B+'

Nov 14 - Standard & Poor's Ratings Services today assigned issue-level and
recovery ratings to Antero Resources Finance Corp.'s $300 million senior
unsecured notes due 2020. The assigned issue rating on the notes is 'B+' (the
same as the corporate credit rating). The recovery rating on this debt is '4',
indicating our expectation of average (30% to 50%) recovery in the event of
default. The issue and recovery ratings are based on the rating of exploration
and production company Antero Resources LLC (B+/Stable/--), which guarantees the
proposed notes on a senior unsecured basis.
The company intends to use proceeds to repay a portion of the outstanding
borrowings under its senior secured revolving credit facility and for general
corporate purposes. A key assumption in our analysis is that we expect the
company's commitment on its revolver to decline to approximately $700 million
following the close of the sale of its Piceance assets.
The ratings on Denver-based Antero Resources LLC (Antero) reflect our
assessment of the company's "weak" business risk and "aggressive" financial
risk. The ratings on Antero incorporate the company's participation in the
competitive and highly cyclical oil and gas industry, the high percentage of
proved undeveloped (PUD) reserves, significant costs associated with the
company's development of its proved reserve base, and its high concentration
of natural gas reserves. Our ratings also reflect the company's good cash
operating costs, solid reserve replacement, and Antero's favorable hedges.
-- RELATED CRITERIA AND RESEARCH
-- Methodology: Business Risk/Financial Risk Matrix Expanded, Sept. 18,
2012
-- Liquidity Descriptors For Global Corporate Issuers, Sept. 28, 2011
-- 2008 Corporate Criteria: Analytical Methodology, April 15, 2008
Temporary telephone contact numbers: Stephen Scovotti (347-839-0615); Marc
Bromberg (347-573-0897)
RATINGS LIST
Antero Resources LLC
Corporate credit rating B+/Stable/--
New Ratings
$300 mil sr unsecrd nts due 2020 B+
Recovery rating 4
Complete ratings information is available to subscribers of RatingsDirect on
the Global Credit Portal at www.globalcreditportal.com. All ratings affected
by this rating action can be found on Standard & Poor's public Web site at
www.standardandpoors.com. Use the Ratings search box located in the left
column.

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